


On The Basis of Merit

by Vexatively



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Asta is dumb, Future Fic, M/M, Oblivious Asta (Black Clover), Pining Yuno (Black Clover), Power couple amirite, Wizard King Asta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22645921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vexatively/pseuds/Vexatively
Summary: Yuno is asked to be the Wizard King.
Relationships: Asta/Yuno (Black Clover)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 327





	1. Yuno is asked

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not caught up on the manga, so most of the timing is handwavy. 
> 
> Spoilers for Anime Episode 120/ Manga Chapter 214.

“Yuno, my boy, I want you to be my successor.”

“Excuse me?” 

The second youngest-ever Captain in history—

> _third youngest-ever, everyone thinks I’m YOUNGER THAN YOU_ _but we were made captains on THE SAME DAY, shitty Yuno_

—can only gape.

Were he in a more rational mindset, he would understand how rude it sounds, but Yuno is certainly not in any state to moderate his tone towards the Wizard King, no matter how revered. 

The setting sun casts a shadow across the boy-king’s face that hints at once and future wisdom. It’s surreal seeing the same features Yuno is used to seeing on his hero in a teenaged form. The jarring difference only reminds him how steep the cost can be to protect and serve. 

“I’ve been doing this job for a very long time, Yuno,” Julius Novachrono affirms solemnly. “The encounter with the Eye of the Midnight Sun was a sobering warning of how tenuous the line of succession can be for a Wizard King.” 

“And you want me to be that— that successor?” Yuno asks, each word slow and deliberate. It’s everything he’s ever wanted. The weight of his dream crushes his chest, and shortens his breath. “A green captain with under a hundred stars to his squad’s name?”

Bell’s wings flutter in quick, frantic beats by his ear. She’s holding silent out of respect for the King but Yuno can feel her small frame tense, her poorly concealed euphoria.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t thrilled. Yuno wants nothing more than the power to protect everyone he loved, and the strength to earn people’s respect. But— 

— _Wizard King_ fills his head and then _Asta_ in the same breath.

It's the same old song. They’re all blinded by the glow of Yuno’s rays when all he’s doing is eclipsing the sun. 

He has a four-leaf clover on his grimoire, but it is unprecedented that someone with no magic has one in the first place. The Golden Dawn wins their first star festival at 125 stars, but the Black Bulls carved their way out of the negatives, up 131 stars to snatch second place. His Mana Zone might be able bend other magic to its will, but all the spells in the world can’t stand up to Asta’s pure determination, let alone Anti-Magic.

They see where Yuno and Asta _are_ , without seeing all they’ve done to get there.

And as much as it’s his dream to be the Wizard King, feels the sheer want of it uncoil from his chest to climb up the back of his throat, his and Asta’s question still lingers with him today.

  
_What does it take to be the Wizard King?_ They were rookies, reckless in a way forgivable by youth and inexperience. They had asked the man in front of them the secret, as if it were quantifiable by something like 1,000 pushups a day or the creation of a new spell every fortnight. 

A warm laugh, a sure acceptance in the face of two peasants from the Forgotten Realms who have yet to prove themselves.

 _It’s merit,_ the personification of their hopes and dreams tells them. The radiant nobility, one earned through toil rather than freely given through blood, was almost blinding. _You can’t protect others with pride. The trust of others comes with merit._

The puzzle pieces fell into place. This man had achieved the pinnacle. He told them that he had _earned_ it and so could they. 

Yuno will never be weak again, so reliant on his other half that Asta is beaten black and blue.

And he’s worked for that strength, constantly improving himself until he could become someone who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his rival. He worked to be able to protect everyone in the kingdom, just like what Asta wanted to do.

Yuno knows he’s strong, just like he knows whenever he’s ahead. He can always feel Asta pressing close behind. The warm pulse of his Anti-Magic is as familiar as his own Mana or Bell’s. It propels his own magic forward and pulls Asta’s own until even he can’t tell which is predator and which is prey.

Asta’s ahead right now, as loathe as he is to admit it. And if _merit_ at all meant anything to the man willing to die for his kingdom then, if it means something to the boy-king in front of him now, he’ll understand that Yuno has only one response.

“I refuse,” Yuno says. He may have smiled, a bitter twist of the lips. In his periphery, he sees Bell choke. Her tiny fists and tinier insistences barrage him in a way he’s grown adept at ignoring.

“Ah?” The King asks. His face betrays nothing of what he is thinking. “On what basis do you make this refusal?”

He thinks of all the thousands of lives Asta’s touched and the thousand thousand lives that have been affected by the people inspired by him. No matter how many stars he earns or lives he protects, Yuno is also one of the lives Asta has changed for good.

“On the basis of merit.” He keeps his tone firm. The man in front of him may be the Wizard King, but no man is greater than another when deciding what deserves merit. “You and I both know someone else deserves this title far more than I.” 

“How curious you say that, Yuno.” The King’s eyes hold the same shine he reflects whenever he discovers a quirky new spell or a daring application of an old favorite. “This might be the first time I’ve seen something like this in my many years.”

“What?” Yuno _doesn’t_ snap.

It rubs him the wrong way, like someone knows a secret he doesn’t. He doesn’t like being like this in front of _anyone,_ much less the Wizard King. Something about that enigmatic smile makes him feel like he’s 8 years old and 4 feet tall all over again.

“I’ve never heard of a candidate refusing to be the Wizard King in favor of their rival, Yuno.” The King’s eyes crinkle in amusement. “Much less twice in a day.”

 _Twice in a day?_ Yuno echoes internally and slowly the pieces click. 

Yuno and Asta were found by the Church on the same day. Growing up, poverty and injustice were all they had ever known. It was frustrating. Father Orsi, Sister Lily, Recca, Nash, Aruru, Hollo were all some of the kindest people around and yet they could barely make ends meet.

It would be easy to let that frustration curdle to despair.

But Asta’s frustration became his strength. Like the toxic anti-magic that flows through his swords, Asta channels injustice and turns it into the power he needs to protect the people in his life.

All Asta’s wanted all his life was to be the Wizard King, to be the kingdom’s ultimate defender. It’s not like Asta to have given up when he’s so close to the finish line. He doesn’t know the meaning of it. Asta turning down the Wizard King means one thing.

 _That Moron is trying_ (and failing _) to use his head and coming to the wrong conclusions._

“I never knew His Majesty to be so lacking in resolve that he listens to morons with muscles for brains,” Yuno comments. It takes everything in him to keep his face calm when every muscle in his body is tensed in rage. _Asta, that good-for-only-one-thing imbecile. Asta!_

He’d never be rude normally to the Wizard King, but this feels _warranted._ Who in their right mind would listen to that _idiot_ about anything important?

(Yuno resolutely ignores the fact that he himself is nominating that self-same idiot to eventually decide on said important matters.)

Besides, it seems like his acerbic tone had no effect on _that expression_ on the King’s face. Julius Novachrono still looks like he’s in the middle of unravelling a snarled spell, equal parts fascinated and entertained.

“I suppose you don’t,” the King agrees good-naturedly. “We learn new things every day Yuno, and today is no exception.”

His dream is right there, close enough to touch. He can win.

 _Asta, I won’t cry anymore,_ he said when he was eight. 

_Asta, I am always the one who will win against you,_ he’s said every day since.

But this doesn’t feel like winning. 

“If you would excuse me, your Majesty, I think I have a belated appointment in Hage with its Village Idiot.” Yuno cracks his knuckles in anticipation.

“—and you’re not even listening to me _again_ Yuno you promised you’d do better!” Belle’s tiny hands grasps a lock of his hair and pulls with all of her might. As a being of pure mana, she packs more punch than her stature implies. “Did you even hear me? We’re going to Healer Owen there’s something wrong—”

Yuno conjures up a small wind ball to form around Bell, fast enough to catch the spirit off guard. “And would you mind looking after her?” is barely out of his mouth before Julius Novochrono scoops the protesting package away with sparkling eyes.

“There’s nothing to excuse, Yuno,” the King waves him off cheerily. “Do say hello to Asta for me!”

“This is out of character!” Bell screeches from her prison between the King’s hands.

 _Screw character,_ Yuno thinks, and he’s a hundred feet above the ground and headed for the one place he knows Asta will be.


	2. Asta is chastened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuno believes in Asta more than anyone else.
> 
> He also believes in Asta's idiocy more than anyone else.

Although his cloud has flown at breakneck speed past the Royal City, the Middle Ring and over the familiar terrain of the Forgotten Realm, Yuno’s descent towards Asta is painfully slow. 

He can see the other boy’s solitary figure on top of the knoll overlooking the Demon King’s cavernous skull. The weather has been overcast but not particularly warm or cold, an idyllic in-between season kind of day. It’s the kind of day they would have normally taken every opportunity to run around in the town or the woods that had become their playground.

Yuno had slowed his ascent to see if the murderous rage subsides. His fingers are twitching as though they’re around Asta’s neck already. Yuno figures he’ll chance it. He’s angry at Asta, but he won’t kill his rival. Probably.

Although Asta was stock-still and thoughtful in the light of a sun on the cusp of setting, the minute Yuno came within earshot it's though he comes alive at once. Asta jumps from side to side in what looks like outrage. His hair is a mess of silver, a literal bird's nest of snarls, and his limbs are flailing all over the place to accompany his yelling.

“—What’s with the SHITTY FACE, Yuno? It took you LONG ENOUGH to get here, I KNEW you’d come to brag. I thought your HANDSOME MUG would be happy since you FINALLY WON you ungrate—“

“Moronsta,” Yuno greets him and sends a light gust of wind to throw Asta’s Black Bulls cape over his giant mouth. _Twitch._

Asta squawks at being cut off and makes no move to remove the obstruction over his head. Nothing could stop the protests of HOW RUDE Yuno is being and how Sister Lily taught him manners ALL FOR NOTHING and there was NO WAY anyone could have thought that Yuno was nicer’n he, the Great Asta, was when for all his GOOD LOOKS he had a ROTTEN ATTITUDE. 

Yuno lands so that he’s a few inches downhill from Asta, and eye to eye. Well, mostly. He nabs at the cloth over Asta’s face. The Moron fails to notice Yuno’s gracious concession and continues running his mouth.

“Do you think I’m as dumb as you are?” He asks without preamble once Asta’s taken a breath. _Twitch._

Asta blinks. “Of course you’re not dumb, you’re my RIVAL, you prodigy.” He blinks again. “HEY I’m not dumb!”

He reaches over to grasp Asta’s collar tightly. If he could only shake some _sense_ into him.

“Then _why_ for _Magic’s sake_ would you send the Wizard King to _me,_ you friggin’ _moron?_ ” Yuno is done with holding himself back. It’s clear nothing short a Third Eye will drill through Asta’s thick skull. “I’m not so weak that I’ll settle for being a second place king, Tiny Shittysta.”

“HEY, I wouldn’t be rivals with a second place king,” Asta protests, seemingly failing to recognize the illogic in his statement.

“If you were ever the Wizard King, you would have to _be_ rivals with someone in second place,” he hisses, leaning further into Asta’s space. There’s barely an inch between them and all he can see in his line of sight is green eyes and a furrowed brow.

“We’re RIVALS, so you’d be good enough to be the FIRST PLACE king, you just would lose to me.” It rankles Yuno how reasonable Asta’s nonsense sounds.

“ _Regardless,_ what prompted this latest bout of stupidity from you this time, Moronsta? _Why_ would you turn down the Wizard King? I never thought you’d be the kind of person who would give up on their dream.”

“You were there though!” protests Asta. Asta leans a little forward to dislodge Yuno’s hands. The protest is warm on Yuno’s face. It makes him a little hazy, but the anger still burns bright.

“What.” Yuno would have known if he were present when the King asked Asta to become his successor.

“That day we asked the Wizard King how to become him ‘n he told us to work for it! That’s what YOU DID, didn’t you?”

“ _What._ ”

“You’re strong, Yuno.” Asta’s eyes sparkle in that earnest, unassuming way it always does when he’s faced with strength. It’s creepy how freely he gives out his praise to strong magic, when anyone else without magic would be bitter they’d have to work so hard in the first place. 

“You’re my RIVAL so I can see better’n you. Everyone respects you SO MUCH, and you’ve grown. They look up to you. Yeah I’m amazing, but your magic is BEYOND amazing right now, you and Bell can beat everyone. You’ll be a really good Wizard King because you’ll be able to protect EVERYONE.”

“You—” Yuno tries to speak, but what he wants to say catches in his throat. 

  
  
  


As Asta’s lifelong rival, Asta has always looked at him. Yuno has achieved greater and greater heights to keep Asta’s eyes on him. To be worthy of the rivalry that they both cherished so much.

Yuno has never realized how scared he is to lose that regard.

But _not_ saying this would be worse than losing that shine in Asta’s eyes. He _can’t_ be a coward. Not now. Not when he’s promised Asta that he’ll never be weak again.

  
  
  


He tries again.

“You—” _have inspired so many people to become stronger, to work harder and you don’t even realize it because you—_ “are a goddamn moron. I—” 

He falters. Those unrelenting green eyes swallow his whole world and set Yuno at a loss for words. _I_ _wouldn’t be where I am today without you at my back, at my side, sprinting in front of me._

“You what?” Asta prompts him with his usual lack of tact.

Yuno glares. They’ve known each other all their lives and Yuno _still_ has to spell it out for him? The monumental idiot. 

“I’m stronger _with_ _you_ ,” he says. “I’m where I am today because of you.”

It’s a miracle Asta’s even alive, all things considered.

“... Dumbass,” he adds, just to drive the point home a little more. 

Yuno doesn’t even need his eyes or his mage sense to tell that Asta’s about to say something stupid, so he barrels through. 

“You’re too much of an idiot give up, Asta, but you bring everyone up with you so that they can be strong too. That’s important for a Wizard King. To make everyone around him believe that they can be better, no matter how much magic they have.”

  
  
  


Yuno thinks of the shining threads of light that binds him to the Church, 

to the noisy, irreverent Black Bulls, 

to the urchins at Nean or whatever city Asta’s last mission is at, 

to Yuno’s own teammates in the Golden Dawn, 

to the outcasts outside of the Clover Kingdom, 

to the royalty who’ve begrudgingly acknowledged his existence, 

to the commoners he’s inspired to have hope.

Yuno thinks of Asta, the shining center of that shining web, white-hot enough to blind the rest of the world. With no small amount of satisfaction, he thinks about how the world hasn’t seen anything yet.

Asta, _you_ are the only one who could win against me.

  
  
  


“As of today, I’m not your rival anymore,” Yuno announces. 

Asta makes unintelligible noises instead of actual words. “EHHH? You’re not allowed to quit when you’re AHEAD OF ME, you JERK!”

“Dumbassta, you are going to be _the Wizard King_ how am I _ahead of you_ , you are so goddamn stupid—“

“I TOLD YOU how you were ahead of me, you weren’t LISTENING—”

“This is why I called you a moron who can only do one thing.”

“—this is JUST LIKE YOU!”

“Can you _please_ focus, I am losing brain cells here.”

“Well, how can a MORON who can only do one thing—” 

“I don’t even know why I think you can be the Wizard King of all people—” 

“—RUDE, by the way— be the—”

“—you must have _driven me crazy._ ”

“LISTEN TO ME!” Now it’s Asta’s turn to tug at Yuno’s cape, an emphasis for every too-loud interjection he asserts. “I still have to CATCH UP TO YOU, Yuno. You CAN’T quit, you talented genius!”

Yuno’s lips curl in a self-satisfied smirk. 

“I guess you’ll have to order me to.”

That shuts Asta up.

  
  
  


The space between Asta’s brows wrinkle. It’s like he’s trying to figure out how to conjure objects from Anti-Magic through sheer willpower. 

When the silence has stretched long enough for him to be fairly certain of Asta’s increasingly derailing train of thought, Yuno speaks again.

“You’ll be the Wizard King and I’ll be your right hand.” He hopes the conviction of the future he sees makes it through Asta’s thick head.

With the dusk light setting ablaze the sky behind the recreated statue of the first Wizard King standing watch over his demonic foe and stalwart friend, it feels like a vow. Yuno reaches over to offer his hand to his other half.

Yuno gives him his service, his grimoire, and the rest of his life. 

Not that Asta knows just yet. 

His Wizard King is a little slow on the uptake, but that’s what a right hand is for. Asta needs someone with a cool head whenever he runs ahead on a heady cocktail of athleticism, instinct and grit.

“And my RIVAL,” Asta affirms. He reaches over to grip Yuno’s forearm with a strength that matches his inextinguishable spirit. Asta’s calloused fingers brush over the sensitive skin of Yuno’s arm, making his nerves catch fire.

Yuno can only tighten his grasp helplessly. No matter what Asta says, they’re no longer rivals. At least, not the way they have been in the past.

He can understand how Asta feels, why he wants to keep the balance of normalcy between them for just a day or an hour longer. The idea of no longer being rivals makes Yuno feel unmoored. But that’s okay. In time, Asta will understand that Yuno will always be in his orbit.

It starts and ends with Asta, always.

“I WON’T LOSE TO YOU!” Asta crows loudly in his face, eyes already alight with the next challenge.

 _Stupid Asta, you’ve already won,_ he wants to say. 

That would lead to nothing but a fight. Yuno’s way more mature than Asta’ll ever be, so he lets it be for now.

  
  
  


They agree to make their way back to the Church to say goodbye to Sister Lily and the children and Father Orsi. Asta is intent on cajoling the good Sister into making their favorite dishes before their departure. Yuno’s mouth is already watering to compensate for a feast of tatoes and the unavoidable dryness.

The summer months are fading away into a brilliant autumn. Once the harvest season starts, the squads will be more in demand, running errands thinly disguised as missions.

Asta and Yuno have been irresponsible captains for long enough, being away from their troublemakers for as long as it was. Yuno doubts Asta’s told Finral where he’s been, and he certainly didn’t have time to inform Klaus of his own departure.

In the middle of catching Yuno up on just how the Black Bulls managed to score a hefty negative fifteen stars on their last mission, Asta stops. Yuno cocks his head at the unusual quiet.

“I’ll make the ROYAL SQUAD participate in the Star Festival!” Asta pumps his fist, already ten steps ahead with only the vaguest sense of how he’ll get there. “With the Wizard King as the captain! I’ll get SO MANY MORE STARS than your stupid squad.”

“Seeing as how you’d be the Wizard King and you’d award the stars, I don’t see how that’s fair.” _Your Royal Dumbass_ is implied. 

“Then someone else can be the judge so I can KICK YOUR BUTT.”

“Plus, the Royal Squad have their own squads, they don’t just exist to protect you.”

“If you’re going to be my RIGHT HAND, Yuno, I feel like you should RESPECT ME MORE,” Asta complains, jostling his left shoulder into Yuno’s side. Yuno very carefully braces himself with mana as the muscles-for-brains shoulders him.

“I will endeavor to meet Your Majesty’s standards,” Yuno says with a solicitous inclination of the head.

“Stop CALLING ME THAT, you’re obviously sarcastic, you handsome jerk!”

“Of course I’m serious. I’m paying my respects to the _Wizard King’s successor_ after all.”

“ARGH, your face says you’re TOO GOOD for this all over!”

“My face says nothing of the sort.”

“DOES TOO.”

“Your argumentative skills impress me, Your Majesty.”

“YOUR FACE impresses me—”

  
  
  


And like it’s always been and always will be, the future Wizard King and his Captain tumble through the double doorways of the church, arguing and laughing and dusty and sweaty and content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these dumb idiots a lot.


End file.
